Day 21 - How old am I?

Gilbert met Lili in Wencelas Square. He saw her dressed in a short-sleeved polo sweater, walking shorts and ballet flats. Now that's how she should dress all the time, he thought. Still youthful, still modest, but not creepy. They hugged and he loved how he could rest his chin in her hair and smell the scent of wildflowers.

"So shall we get lunch or put our luggage away?" She asked. Gilbert shifted his duffle bag and realized, oh Scheiße, they had not discussed this. He assumed she would want separate hotels or at least rooms. He had planned to find a modest little place that he could afford, and maybe he would end up spending one evening at her hotel. Because, of course, after a night or two, she would not be able to resist his awesomeness. So he put his best confident smirk on and said, "Let's take care of your stuff first."

He took her bag and he followed her through the New Town to the banks of the Vltava River, where she stopped with a big smile in front of two large houseboats. "Here we are!" She said proudly. "It's a botel."

"Ausgezeichnet."1 Gilbert wondered how much a night on a floating hotel would cost; probably what hehad budgeted for himself for the whole three nights they planned in Prague. Well, what did he expect? He thought as they stepped onto the boat, stared at the wood paneled lobby as she checked in, and followed her to her room. She was a wealthy nation after all, and of course, she wouldn't need to consider a hostel full of mortal students partying, drinking, -

"What do you think?" Lili asked him as she opened the door to the room. Gilbert stared. The room was huge, with two beds, a living room area with a sofa, coffee table, and chair. It was rich and warm-looking, with paneled walls and floors and oriental carpets. Why did such a little thing like Lili need so much space? The old East German in him bristled at such extravagance.

"You can have the king-sized bed," she said," since you're taller than I am and you're awesome." She took her bag and started putting things away in the louvered closet.

Gilbert shook his head. "Lili, I can't stay here. . ."

"Why not?" She asked. "That's why I got the suite."

How was he going to save face in front of her?"Well, I don't want you to feel awkward or anything. And despite what some people say, I am a gentleman—"

"—then you can be a gentleman here." She said. She came over to where he was standing, stood on her tiptoes and kissed him. "And you can treat me to dinner and entertainment. We'll be even." She smiled at him, and her dark green eyes were so kind, he was willing to swallow his pride. Maybe being a rich nation's kept man wouldn't be so bad, after all.

They ended up eating lunch at a local place that specialized in Czech cuisine. As they waited for their food, Gilbert studied Lili. She looked so young and yet she was almost three hundred years old. Still fairly young for a nation, but older than the United States or Australia. And yet they acted and looked like young adults, and she seemed barely an adolescent. How odd, he thought, that when he had met her in Prague the first time, she had seemed older than how she seemed now.

Maybe it was the beer (he grudgingly acknowledged that Czech beer was pretty good) or his cursed ability to pick a fight, but he had to blurt out, "What happened to you, Lili?"

She froze, pilsner glass in mid-air. "What do you mean, Gilbert?" Her voice sounded high and childish.

"That." He gestured. He leaned forward, trying to make himself look as nonthreatening as possible. "Lili, when I met you here the first time in 1866, you looked like a grown woman—sure, a tiny one, but still an adult-, you spoke like one, and when Ludwig and I tried to talk you into the North German Confederation, you. Shut. Us. Down." He enunciated each word clearly. "Like a grown woman who knew exactly what she wanted." He took a sip of his beer. "But now you sound and act like a little girl, and I just want to know why."

She looked at him, and he immediately wanted to smash his head against the restaurant wall. Her eyes were filling with tears and he felt worse than shit. "I'm sorry, Lili," he muttered, "if you want me to pay the bill and get my things out of the botel, I—"

"—let me tell you the story," she said. And even though her eyes shone with tears, she took his hand and held it.

"You're right about the change. It happened after World War I. I had been close to Austria in so many ways" (what did she mean by that, Gilbert thought?) and he had lost and I was affected by that. I was poor, and Roderick couldn't help me. In fact, he urged me to cut ties with him, so I would not suffer because of him. And of course, I couldn't ask anything of you and Ludwig." She paused and looked at him, and he saw compassion in her eyes. "Everyone was suffering, of course, so I expected nothing from anyone unless I could offer them something. And that's when I remembered what Bella had told me about Anders, and his—preferences." She hesitated and Gilbert felt a chill run up his spine. "I knew he had no money also, but he was helping Bella and she was getting some aid from the United States that she was sharing with him, and I figured, maybe if he liked me, I could get some help too. " She trailed off and looked away. Gilbert could feel shame, that familiar feeling, surrounding her, and he wanted to push it away.

Lili took a deep breath. "So, I took my best dress and altered it to look lik a young girl's. I braided my hair into pigtails, and I practiced raising my voice. I knew that Anders would feel a lot better about a nation like me acting like a child than an actual child. But when I prepared for the journey, I felt so terrible. I was going to sell myself to another for bread and place to stay. But instead of painting my face and looking worldly, I was going to do it as a girl." She looked at him, and he could see the horror in her face as she realized this. He was feeling it too. "I was so hungry and tired, and I had no money, so I was prepared to walk across Switzerland. And that's when Vash found me. I was exhausted and ready to fade away. He took me in, and I thought, 'well, he'll want something too,' and I was ready to give it to him."

"Oh, Lili." Gilbert did not think of himself as a compassionate person; he usually felt contempt for other nations' stories of how cruel others had been to them. But watching Lili's face grow so sad and full of self-loathing hurt him, physically hurt him. He had never thought much about what female nations had to consider in their fights and negotiations to exist.

"And he never asked for anything. He had very little and he shared it with me. He taught me how to protect myself. And I was so astonished and so grateful." She smiled and Gilbert could actually understand why she might be so obligated to him. "So I wasn't his lover, I wasn't his client, I wasn't his wife. What was I? He treated me like his little sister. And so it started like a little joke between us. 'Oh thank you, Bruder! This is for you, Bruder.'" She used the little-girl voice every nation identified with her. "And then it became a regular thing, and now I have to stop and recall that I ever sounded or looked otherwise." She ended on a low soprano note, the voice that Gilbert remembered from 1866, that beautiful feminine voice that had intrigued him with its warm, supple quality.

He squeezed her hand. "Lili," he said, "you don't ever have to use that voice or wear those clothes around me. Unless, of course," he added, "that's your kink, and you want to do it, but don't feel like you have to do it on my account."

"Danke." She said and squeezed his hand back. "and it's not my kink." Something in her green eyes implied something else intrigued her. But the waiter had appeared with their food.

"Now, Lili," Gilbert said, as he put extra slices of rye bread on her plate,"As the master of ceremonies tonight, I'm going to cheer you up in time-honored Prussian fashion. So eat all your potatoes and bread because you're going to need the starch."

"And what's time-honored Prussian fashion?" She asked.

"Drinking, singing, wagering with mortals. And winning." He winked. Her smile made him feel better.

"I won Beer Pong!" Lili squealed. She waved her prizes, a huge pilsner glass and T shirt from the Drunken Monkey. She staggered along the cobblestone sidewalks. "I'm a champeyon!"

"Ja, you're the champion." Gilbert pulled her up, before she collided with a storefront. "I think you need some help, Fraulein." Before she could protest, he scooped her up and slung her over his shoulder. She dangled like a sack of potatoes, albeit a cute sack of potatoes with a bubble butt near his face.

"Ja, carry me home, Preußen," she commanded. "I won Beer Pong!" She sang again.

After lunch they had spent the evening checking out the New Town neighborhood of Prague , specifically Wencelas Square and its attractions. By the time evening had rolled around, Gilbert had found the site for the pub crawl. He had informed Lili about how to win drinking games against mortals, and he was proud of how well she had taken to the ruse. It helped that she looked so slight and young, and yet as a nation, she had a greater tolerance than mortal women twice her weight. So now they were on their way back to the Botel Matylda, and Lili was finally feeling the effect of her efforts.

"I slammed them at Beer Pong. Like a boss!" Lili growled. Gilbert couldn't help laughing. She sounded like a demented kitten. "Ja, you certainly were the boss," he added.

"I'm da Boss!" She growled again. Then he felt a sharp, arousing pain in his behind.

"Lili,did you just grab my ass?" Gilbert demanded.

"Tehehehehe. Like a boss," she giggled.

"Well, you know what that means, right?" He felt her rub her head back and forth against his back. "It means you're a bad girl, and you need a—" He smacked her firm little butt.

"Owwwww!" she cried and she kicked her legs, almost hitting him in the nose.

"Are you going to behave, Mädchen, or do I need to spank you again?" He half-hoped she would misbehave, so he could keep spanking her, but if that happened, he wouldn't be able to walk in public.

"I'll be good," she muttered. "LIKE A BOSS!"He carried her along, wondering if she was okay, until he heard a weak little voice, "Gilbert, I need to, please. . . " She retched.

Just in time, he pulled over to the bridge and heard her vomit into the Vtlava River. "I'm sorry," she murmured, "You must think I'm awful."

"Nein, Lili. It happens to all of us." He could see the botel ahead of them. "We're almost back to our botel. I'll take care of you, ja?"

"Ja," she said, more subdued than before. Gilbert ignored the concierge's quizzical look as he walked into the botel and over to their suite. He managed to get Lili to unlock the door and he gently deposited her on the king bed. She looked pale and green, a weak little smile playing on her lips. "That was fun, Gil."

He nodded and got a washcloth that he used to blot her lips and face. "Can you get up and brush your teeth, Liebste2?"

"You called me Liebste." She said dreamily. She shuddered a little and he worried that she was going to vomit again. He grabbed a wastebasket and put it near the bed.

"Let's get you ready for bed, Lili." Gilbert helped her up and into the bathroom; he kept the door cracked in case of any suspicious silences or noises. All he heard was the water running, the toilet flush, and then a slight, wobbly arm gesture for nightclothes. He rummaged for something that looked like a nightgown and handed it to her.

Lili emerged, still green and unsteady, in an oversized Super Mario Brothers T-shirt. "I'm sorry, Gil," she mumbled again as she staggered towards the bed and collapsed onto it.

"Why are you sorry?" He asked.

"I'm a mess and I know you probably wanted to…" She gestured in some vague way.

"Lili, I told you that I was going to be a gentleman. You had a lot of fun, probably more beer than you've had in a month." He leaned over and kissed her damp cheek. She nodded and in a few minutes, he heard her little snores.

Gilbert turned off the light and stripped down to his boxers. He knew that someone like Francis would not be above taking advantage of Lili in her state, but he believed that only unawesome losers needed a drunk, unconscious woman to get laid. Even at his cruelest and most powerful, he preferred his partners to be conscious and active. He knew that he should take the other bed, but as he gently drew the sheet over Lili, he wondered how much harm there was in sleeping next to her, in feeling her warm little body curled against his. The sheets would be a barrier. He lay down next to her, his free arm draped over her, smiling at how contentedly she sighed.

1 German: Excellent

2 German: darling, dearest